By Mary Kane

When his beloved 90-year-old cousin, Sidney, needed to move from her New Jersey home into a nearby independent living community last spring, Paul Mesard was faced with a dilemma. Mesard, 62, lives in Denver. And taking off enough time to pack up a house that Sidney had lived in for 35 years and relocate her seemed almost impossible.

But Mesard came across a solution: Hire a senior move manager, a professional who specializes in helping older adults move from their longtime homes to resettle elsewhere. A move manager and her team guided Sidney through every room, closet, and drawer. They quizzed her gently on what to keep or give away. And after the move, they unpacked and set up her new apartment. The entire process took just two days.

“They were really focused, so it wasn’t a trip down memory lane,” Mesard says. “You’re paying them by the hour, so it’s just about business.”

Seniors moving for the first time in decades can be overwhelmed by the task of emptying out an attic or basement full of boxes. And even younger baby boomers may have recent knee or hip replacements that make moving difficult. Some seniors also face a major living transition, often into a smaller apartment in a care facility or to an adult child’s house in another part of the U.S.

“Sometimes you do have to move because it’s not safe, or affordable, or feasible for you to stay where you are,” says Tracy Greene Mintz, a social worker and long-term care consultant in Redondo Beach, California. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not hard and it’s not sad.”

Hiring Help to Ease the Transition

Senior move managers, some of whom may have social work backgrounds or special training, address these emotional minefields. Some serve as neutral third parties and divvy up family possessions. Others acknowledge the pain of saying goodbye to treasured items. Clients always have final say, but some managers find ways to help ease the transition. One manager painstakingly photographed and recreated the display of a collection of glass figure miniatures for a cabinet in a client’s new apartment, says Susan Devaney, president of The Mavins Group, a move-management company in Westfield, New Jersey.

Move managers usually charge hourly rates between $55 and $100, depending on the type of service. Managers pack boxes or organize an entire home; tag items for family, charity, or the new residence; and keep out-of-town adult children in the loop by video chatting as they work. A typical move, which includes planning and consultation, takes three to five weeks, Devaney says. Managers can work on short notice, too.

Managers review the floor plan for a new apartment and help decide where the old furniture will fit. And they can recommend vetted moving companies and firms that might buy unwanted items. The cost to hire a manager to move a senior from a house to a two-bedroom independent living apartment may range from $2,500 to $5,000, which doesn’t include moving company costs, Devaney says. Find an accredited senior move manager through the National Association of Senior Move Managers (NASMM), the industry’s professional association, at NASMM.org.

Vera Lasser, 79, decided to hire a senior move manager when she and her husband, Norman, 84, needed help to move from their New Jersey home of almost 49 years to a continuing care community in Massachusetts.

“The house was an absolute mess,” she says. “We had collected so many papers and so much junk over the years.”

Devaney’s firm encouraged them to let go of some things and to make a memory box to save meaningful items. The couple had wanted to keep a large baker’s rack they loved. But the move managers helped them realize that it wouldn’t fit in their new, smaller space. Having help as she sorted and made decisions, Vera says, was comforting during a stressful time.

Reprinted with permission from Kiplinger’s Retirement Report.

By Janis Powers

It’s a modern marvel: share some of your bodily fluid—be it blood, sputum, or even urine—and you can unlock the secrets of your own DNA, which will give you clues about your long-term health outlook.

You may learn that you have a high probability of developing Parkinson’s disease. Or that you could be a carrier for cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, or hereditary hearing loss. Our bodies contain a wealth of untapped information about our health. Knowledge, as they say, is power.

But is there such a thing as too much knowledge? Many Americans are interested in learning about their genetic predispositions, but they’re also wary about taking genetic tests. Some are fearful that the results will give them bad news, such as the probability of developing an incurable disease like Alzheimer’s.

But a more vocal concern relates to who will have access to the information now or in the future. A genetic marker for ovarian cancer might be considered a “pre-existing condition” to an insurance company.

Many Americans are concerned that the information revealed in genetic testing might, paradoxically, exclude them from the insurance coverage they’ll need to manage the diseases they could develop.

Here are a few things to consider when ordering up a genetic test…

There’s still a lot that we don’t know about genetic testing. As a field, it’s in its infancy. The announcement that the human genome had been sequenced occurred less than 20 years ago in early 2001.

It was a landmark scientific breakthrough.

Since then, tens of thousands of genetic tests have come on the market. They’ve fueled the perception that genetic testing can provide sophisticated, definitive results. But sequencing was only the beginning of learning about an incredibly complex array of information.

There simply hasn’t been enough time to complete the studies required to develop comprehensive causal relationships between your genetic makeup and your expected outcomes. We don’t even know what we don’t know.

The ability to interpret the results hasn’t kept up with the rate of genetic testing. For the most part, the results of a genetic test aren’t black and white. The tests indicate a predisposition, or a likelihood, that an individual may develop a disease or condition.

Unfortunately, many doctors lack the training required to explain the nuances of the results of tests to their patients. Physicians may be even more wary of interpreting the results of tests that they didn’t personally order. This lack of education on both sides of the patient-provider equation can lead to undue concerns, misinterpretations, and even erroneous self-diagnoses.

Patients are advised to consult with educated personnel before they take decisive clinical action based on the results of a genetic test.

At the same time, some genetic tests do have a high degree of efficacy. Tests that focus on one specific area have proven extremely reliable, especially for individuals with a familial connection to a certain disease.

BRCA testing is a well-known example. Women with a family history of breast cancer may want to be tested for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. A positive result can indicate that an individual has a high chance of developing an aggressive early-onset form of breast cancer. These individuals can proactively manage the situation through close monitoring and regular preventive testing. Or they can opt for pre-emptive mastectomies.

One thing we do know with absolute certainty is that genetic testing is here to stay. And we can expect it to become a part of our personal health records. No doubt, there are many ethical issues related to testing that must be addressed.

We have entered an awkward stage where technology has advanced faster than policymakers are able to regulate it. But the wealth of powerful information that a properly administered, interpreted genetic test can provide is too useful in enhancing clinical treatments to be ignored.

The most important takeaway is that the results of genetic tests can, and should, empower us to engage in positive, preventive behaviors so we can better manage our health.

Test outcomes indicate a proclivity, not an inevitability. With proper genetic and medical counseling, each potential health issue can be managed or even prevented through behavioral modifications, properly administered medications, and other clinical recommendations.

Interpreting the results of genetic test as a fait accompli, as an excuse to do nothing, is a lost opportunity for many Americans to live longer, healthier lives.

Janis Powers is an advisor to healthcare providers specializing in strategy and operations. Her new book, Health Care: Meet the American Dream, proposes a revolutionary new healthcare system that leverages the power of genetic testing.

Back then, you’d probably never even heard of ramen.

Enter the next wave of college students who discovered ramen, the mix of wheat noodles, broth, and toppings. After what seemed to be a tsunami of dorm room popularity, the wiggly noodles have become very mainstream.

Miso Steak. Photo: Ramen: 50 Classic Ramen and Asian Noodle Soups

From Humble Beginnings

The Chinese noodle, first introduced to Japan during the early 20th century, adapted the name from the Chinese la mein, or hand-pulled noodles.

But the popularity explosion of ramen in the U.S. can be attributed to the founder of Nissin Foods, Momofuku Ando.

Nissin Foods boasts:

“There is only one company that can rightfully claim the Pinnacle of Noodledom. Only one company whose founder, faced with a Japanese food shortage after WWII, invented instant ramen and sparked a 3-minute global revolution. Only one whose spirit of innovation continues to provide simple, nourishing delight to billions of people. Only one that has been loved around the world for more than 60 years. There is only one Nissin Foods.”

Nissin Foods founder, Momofuku Ando, was a Taiwanese-Japanese inventor. He’s credited as the inventor of instant noodles and the creator of the brands Top Ramen and Cup Noodles.

According to Nissin Foods, while visiting the U.S. in 1966, Momofuku saw Americans using forks to eat noodles out of cups, rather than using bowls and chopsticks. He decided a solution would be a noodle cup and developed the brand Cup Noodles®.

For 10 years, beginning in 1996, a 60-foot Nissin Cup Noodle sign greeted visitors of Times Square in New York City. It loomed over Times Square from the top of the One Times Square, the site for the New Year’s Eve ball drop.

Shaking to Ramen

Ramen has become so much a part of gastronomic pleasures that a playlist was even created: Music You Should Listen to When Slurping Ramen. The playlist appears on The Mind of the Chef website, the show produced by the late Anthony Bourdain.

Ramen Museum

Ramen is celebrated in Japan with its own museum. The Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum opened in 1994 and is a celebration of the noodle.

Roasted Squash and Mushroom Ramen

How to Prepare Ramen

A new cookbook Ramen: 50 Classic Ramen and Asian Noodle Soups by Heather Whinney can become your guide on how to prepare many delicious ramen recipes. Whinney walks you through the history of ramen, how to prepare the broth or stock/base critical to the perfect ramen, the flavorings, the types of noodles (fresh, somen, soba, dried ramen, udon, and instant), the toppings (protein and vegetables), equipment, and utensils.

Filled with gorgeous photographs and easy-to-follow recipes, you’ll become a ramen expert in no time.

Here are three of our favorite recipes from the book:

Miso Steak and Tomato Ramen

Spicy Seasoned Chicken and Vegetable Ramen

Roasted Squash and Mushroom Ramen

Recipes and photos reprinted with permission from Ramen: 50 Classic Ramen and Asian Noodle Soups, Lorenz Publishing.

By Larry E. Swedroe and Kevin Grogan

Afinancial plan isn’t complete without a well-thought-out design for transitioning assets. Whether that transition occurs during life or at death (or both), it’s an inescapable process that every individual will eventually face—voluntarily or not.

Estate planning has traditionally focused on passing wealth to future generations and doing so in a tax-advantaged manner. This is an important objective. And the successful implementation of this objective can minimize costs, frustrations, confusion, and disputes upon death. Even though estate planning is often both motivated and driven by the elimination, or minimization, of estate or other transfer taxes, there are other important objectives, such as enhancing creditor protection and divorce protection for beneficiaries, that can also be accomplished.

As anyone who has tried to read a will or a trust agreement knows, estate planning can be complicated. The deluge of tax provisions, transfer formulas, contingencies, and trustee powers can be overwhelming and intimidating. For families with substantial wealth, several different trust agreements, all with an overlapping set of instructions and beneficiaries, can further complicate the situation. While acknowledging that estate planning can be complicated, it helps to boil it down to three simple questions:

1. Where do you want your assets to go? 2. Who do you want to be in charge of your assets? 3. What do you want the rules to be?

Your estate-planning advisor should walk you through these questions. And at the end of the process, you should have a firm understanding of how these questions have been answered and implemented into their estate-planning documents.

An estate planning advisor should be able to clearly articulate the process from beginning to end. Laying out the process ahead of time not only demystifies it, but it also helps provide structure to conversations and a framework against which to judge the progress being made. Done well, it’s a four-step process…

1. Design Phase

The beginning is the most important of any planning process. And the beginning of the estate-planning process is to establish your goals and objectives. Failure to establish them may lead to inefficiencies, unnecessary additional work, and general frustration.

A good analogy to the design phase is an architect’s blueprint for a home. The architect may know that the client wants three bathrooms. But knowing where to put those bathrooms is crucial. The effective design of an estate plan is similar to this process.

2. Implementation Phase

After the estate-planning blueprint is complete, the next phase is implementation. Continuing with the home-building theme, the implementation phase is analogous to constructing the home. For an estate planner, this means preparing the documents that will answer in detail the three questions offered earlier:

1. Where do you want your assets to go? 2. Who do you want to be in charge of your assets? 3. What do you want the rules to be?

Typically, these documents will include healthcare and financial powers of attorney, a will, and a revocable trust.

The implementation, or “drafting,” phase is often what people dread the most. It would mean receiving a 50-plus-page trust document full of legalese and words that no one other than estate planners would use. Although some of this is unavoidable, a helpful advisor should accompany these documents with an outline in plain, easy-to-understand language and a summary diagram that illustrates the flow of the estate plan. Once the documents have been drafted, reviewed, and approved, signing the documents would complete this step.

3. Funding Phase

An estate plan will often consist of one or more revocable and irrevocable trusts. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to simply sign the estate-planning documents. A necessary next step is to “fund” the trust(s). Using the home-building analogy, you’re now moving the furniture into the house.

There are an unlimited number of permutations or options to choose from when considering the funding of trusts. These options can affect income, gift, and estate taxes; administrative convenience, costs, access, and control of assets; and other issues. As a result, it’s necessary that your estate planner work with your tax professional and investment advisor to provide appropriate counsel, which would ensure that the documents are working together to achieve your goals.

Planners who operate in a vacuum—whether they’re estate planners, financial advisors, bankers, insurance professionals, or accountants—can be dangerous for the overall plan. Communication among advisors should be a basic requirement, especially in the funding phase.

4. Monitoring Phase

The last phase is the monitoring phase. Over time, just as a home needs maintenance to repair structural damage (leaky roof), changing circumstances (the family has expanded and outgrown the home), or to accommodate available improvements (more efficient windows or furnace), when the assumptions upon which the estate plan was built change, the estate plan will need to be reviewed. In addition, a regular review should be scheduled because laws frequently change. This was the case in 2018 when the amount of assets that may be excluded from the estate tax was doubled, which provided the opportunity to shield additional assets from estate taxes.

In addition to death and taxes being certainties of life, change is also inevitable. Some changes are exciting and desirable, like the birth of children or an increase in net worth; some changes are difficult and undesirable, like health changes, death, or legal problems; and others are beyond our control and may fluctuate periodically—there’s no better example than income, gift, and estate tax laws. A good estate-planning advisor will help design an estate plan with change in mind.

Flexibility in estate-planning documents, and the ability to react to life’s changes, is imperative. Even when there are no dramatic changes in your health or family, it’s advisable to have regular meetings with your estate-planning advisor to determine if there have been changes in the law that would allow for additional planning opportunities. A good advisor would seek out their clients to discuss these changes, rather than the other way around. Thus, when you choose an estate-planning attorney, asking existing clients about this issue should be part of your due diligence process.

Adapted with permission from Your Complete Guide to a Successful & Secure Retirement by Larry E. Swedroe and Kevin Grogan. Published by Harriman House. © 2019. All rights reserved.

Larry Swedroe and Kevin Grogan are the coauthors of Your Complete Guide to a Successful & Secure Retirement. Swedroe serves as the director of research, and Grogan serves as the director of investment strategy for Buckingham Strategic Wealth and The BAM Alliance, a community of more than 130 independent registered investment advisors throughout the country.

By Liddy Manson

Seventy million American baby boomers will turn 70 within the next 15 years, which will fuel the largest population shift in our country’s history. Maybe you’re one of them.

My guess is that you’ll make different choices from your parents. After all, you’ll probably live five to 10 years longer than they did. And you’re probably in better health than they were at your age. And you might have traveled more, have more diverse friends, stay in touch with the people in your life differently, and most likely have kids and close family members who don’t live nearby.

And most boomers don’t have quite enough in savings to live in today’s senior housing for more than a few years—if they want to live there at all. Because more than half of the nation’s homeowners are 50-plus years old, we at Georgetown University’s Global Social Enterprise Initiative’s AgingWell Hub set out to reimagine the future of living environments for older adults. How do today’s boomers think about their communities, activities, families, and jobs? And how will those elements of their lives inform their future housing decisions?

The good and the bad news is that the living environment that most boomers will want and will be able to afford does not yet exist in large quantity. Why is that good news? Because we still have plenty of time to create the environments that people want. And we can all get involved in shaping that future.

Our research leveraged a method called human-centered design, which helps get to the heart of market possibilities by taking the point of view of a hypothetical person and walking a mile (or in this case, five years) in their shoes.

Map courtesy of Aging Well Hub

In our case, our “persona” is a woman named Melinda, aged 68, working part time, and living alone in the house in the Atlanta suburbs where she and her husband raised their two kids, who are now adults with families of their own.

Melinda is in good health, both physically and financially, with a net worth of $260,000, most of which is in her home. Like many other women her age, Melinda doesn’t live near her sister or kids. But she stays in close touch by using basic technology (Skype, Facebook, FaceTime, and email) and has one very close friend her age who lives nearby. Melinda leans on her daughter, her friends from church, and her book group for support.

As a research team, we took several months to imagine what life would feel like for Melinda over the course of five years, from age 68 to age 72. We followed Melinda as she got her footing after her husband’s death, took a cruise to treat herself to some fun, met a new love interest, retired from her job, and discovered that she was capable of thriving as a single woman in ways she wouldn’t have imagined two years earlier.

Melinda also encounters challenges as her close friend moves away, her kids have financial strains, she finds retirement lonely, and she spends more money than she’d originally planned. When she discovers she needs to make significant improvements to her house, which hasn’t been upgraded in 35 years, she’s forced to make a decision about her best living options. She is unlikely to move into traditional senior housing at this stage of her life. She’s still very independent, and her budget doesn’t allow for a 10- to 15-year tenure in an environment that costs $3,000 to $5,000 per month. But remaining in her home alone requires investments that she hasn’t planned for. There isn’t a perfect solution for her or the millions of Americans who find themselves in her situation.

Trend toward multi-generational family living is now and in the future. Photo: Deposit Photos

So, we imagined what might be possible and what is already starting to happen in America. She could combine households with a good friend or rent out a portion of her house to generate additional income. She might convince her recently divorced daughter who’s struggling financially to move back to Atlanta and join the upward trend in multi-generational housing that’s been on the rise over the past decade. Or she might decide to sell her house, put that equity to work in an innovative financial instrument, and rent a small apartment nearby with easy access to retail, public transportation, community organizations, and ride shares.

Technology developments of the past 10 years will likely shape Melinda’s decision-making process. With ride-sharing services exploding, she likely won’t be completely dependent on a car to access basic services. And with rising rates of e-commerce, there will be few household goods that can’t be delivered to her door. Online rental marketplaces can allow her to monetize the unused space in her home on a short- or long-term basis. And services like TaskRabbit will support her in doing basic household tasks that might be difficult for an older person living alone. All of them will allow Melinda to make her decisions based on what she wants rather than what she feels she must do to minimize risk.

In other words, Melinda has a vast array of choices. And if she’s like the others in her boomer generation, she won’t hesitate to get creative and lead the way.

Liddy Manson is the director of AgingWell Hub, Georgetown University’s Global Social Enterprise Initiative, part of the McDonough School of Business.

By Mike Stapenhurst

As we reach middle age and beyond, we have two main choices: either we carry on as before and hope we don’t get sick, or we can start making changes to our current lifestyles.

By the time I reached 70, I considered myself lucky. I was—and still am—very active and take no medications. But it was only since my 40s that I started paying more attention to my lifestyle. Before that, I was just like many other people: eating poorly, not taking the time to exercise, and constantly worrying about one thing or another. If I’d known 30-plus years ago what I know today, I wouldn’t have taken so long to start making healthier choices.

Reflecting on my own situation, I thought that there may be several reasons why I was healthier than the average 75-year-old. I wondered if it could be because of:

• My genetic makeup. • Better diet. • Regular exercise. • Being just plain lucky!

But then another thought struck me: Maybe I’m just normal for my age, and it’s actually the modern style of living that’s causing people to age faster and get sicker much sooner than they normally would.

I’m convinced now that this is true. Much of what we hear and experience leads us to believe that even though we may live longer, thanks to modern medicine, we’ll still become weak, frail, and probably end our years in an assisted living community. But this might not necessarily be a foregone conclusion…

Will Exercise Keep Me Younger?

If we want to keep active and healthy past middle age, our first thought is usually to start doing regular workouts or take up a recreational sport. Many people believe that exercise is the key to staying healthy as we age. As a runner, I firmly believed this until I noticed that several of my peers who, even though they were quite active, were still starting to have some medical issues. Being fit does not necessarily mean that you’re in good health. In fact, over doing your workouts can end up having negative effects on your overall wellness.

To counteract this, you need to understand your body and how to interpret every discomfort, ache, or moment of fatigue as you’re working out and act accordingly. By easing off when necessary and pushing harder when you know you’re in good form, you’ll end up being much fitter and stronger than you would be if you just try to work through the pain. This doesn’t mean that you should never push yourself. It means recognizing when it’s okay to do this and when it’s not.

Although exercise is a key component of a healthy lifestyle, it’s not the main one. So, what is? Nutrition is actually a more important aspect of your health. I know now that what you eat every day has far more impact on your well-being than how much exercise you do.

What Is Healthy Eating, Exactly?

We’re inundated with information on diets and nutritional advice to the point that we have seriously over complicated some simple concepts. It’s time to get back to basics! Here are a few things that I’ve done over the years…

I’ve reduced my intake of:

• Sugar. • Red meat. • Processed food. • Alcohol. • Fast food.

And I’ve increased my intake of:

• Vegetables and vegetarian meals. • Cold-water fish. • Oatmeal. • Fermented food like yogurt and sauerkraut.

This simple change has helped to keep me healthy. Michael Pollan, in his book How to Eat, came up with the following simple but effective advice: “Eat real food, not too much, mostly plants.”

For me, a key change in my diet was to reduce the amount of processed food I’d been eating.

Buyer Beware!

You wouldn’t buy a car without doing some research and talking to friends. Use the same approach when it comes to food shopping: take your time, and know what you’re buying. The food industry doesn’t always have your best interests at heart. At the supermarket, I always read the label on whatever I’m buying and look for the simplest list of ingredients. For example, if you like peanut butter, look for the kind that has one ingredient: peanuts!

Own Your Health!

This brings up one of my favorite topics: taking responsibility for our own health. A lot of the chronic illnesses we suffer from today are self-inflicted by our bad habits. If a long-time smoker develops lung cancer, the usual comment is something like, “He should have quit long ago.” But does anyone get taken to task for eating too many burgers and fries and ending up with blocked arteries?

I realize that everything I do on a daily basis is affecting my wellness, one way or another. So, I urge you to look at your own daily routine and start weeding out the things you know are bad. Don’t wait until you’re sick to start getting healthy!

Stress Is Killing You

So, if you think diet and exercise are the answers to keeping healthy, you’d be correct—but only partially. Stress has a bigger impact than both of these. Many of us today lead stressful lives. We juggle work, family obligations, finances, and more. Now, stress in itself is a normal response. When confronted by a dangerous situation, you breathe faster and your pulse rate goes up, which sends more oxygen to your brain and other beneficial functions.

But when stress becomes prolonged or happens too frequently, it has many serious negative effects on your health. Stress can be the cause of heart disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, many digestive disorders, asthma, obesity, and premature aging.

So, even if you’re exercising and eating well, you need to pay attention to your daily stress levels if you want to stay healthy. It can help to systematically identify the things that cause you the most anxiety and stress and try to remove or change them. For example, if you have a stressful drive to work every morning, can you leave earlier, travel with a friend, use public transport, or work from home? Even if you only do this once or twice a week, you will have broken up the daily routine that causes you to be stressed out on your way to work.

Your Genetic Makeup

Many people dismiss our efforts to stay healthy with the statement that our genes are the main influencer when it comes to longevity and avoiding certain diseases. But this is not as straightforward as it seems and is a dangerous line of thought. In fact, certain genes can be turned on or off, depending on many factors that include environment, diet, and even other genes.

Your genetic makeup could be considered like a symphony. Each orchestra may interpret the original score in different ways by making subtle but noticeable changes. So, although your genes may be the symphony you’re born with, the performance is up to you.

The key to prolonged health is to be aware of all the factors involved and try to adjust your lifestyle accordingly. This may be a long process, but it will certainly pay off down the road.

Mike Stapenhurst is the author of the book Forty plus Thirty Road – A Road To A Healthier Lifestyle, which is available as an e-book or in paperback from Amazon. In his book, he takes an in-depth look at the general state of our health in North America and what we can do about it. He describes his efforts to adopt a healthy lifestyle and all the things he’s learned along the way.

By Gordon Newton

There’s nothing quite like a vacation. It’s a time to take a break from reality and explore another world.

Even though many people travel to alleviate stress, planning and organizing a vacation can actually cause stress.

The most common type of “travel stress” is financial. Seventy four percent of people say they’ve gone into debt to pay for a vacation, to the tune of $1,108 on average, according to the 2017 LearnVest Money Habits and Confessions survey.

The good news is that with proper planning and preparation, you can manage the financial stress caused from vacation.

Give Yourself a Reasonable Budget

Developing a budget and sticking to it is one of the best ways to manage financial stress. Spend time researching lodging, dining, transportation, and entertainment costs in the area and build from there. The biggest mistake when developing a travel budget is not allotting for unexpected costs.

A strong budget will allow you to enjoy your vacation without worry about money. And returning from vacation knowing you stuck to your budget will be a relief.

Start Saving and Planning in Advance

If you’re planning to travel throughout the year, open an additional savings account and put money into it each week, or keep a spare change jar in your home or office.

Planning in advance is key. Bearing the brunt of expensive plane tickets weeks or months in advance will give your bank account time to recover before spending again. Keep an eye out for deals in the weeks leading up to the vacation for activities you’d like to do. Capitalize on anything that goes on sale, even if it’s just $5 off admission to a museum or park. Little savings add up on your budget’s bottom line.

Incorporate Low-Cost or Free Activities

Sightseeing is of the cheapest vacation activities.

Consider planning a self-guided tour of an historical neighborhood or finding a scenic trail to hike. Plan a day at the beach or enjoy some time using the amenities provided in the place you’re staying, such as the pool or hot tub.

Look for All-Inclusive or Alternative Lodging

Though five-star hotels are appealing, check if alternative lodging options are available.

Options can range from staying with a family friend, which is great if you’re traveling solo, or renting a vacation home, which is great if you’re traveling with a group or staying for a long period of time. Rentals can be much more affordable than hotels, especially if you split the cost with a group.

If hotel life is more your speed, research all-inclusive resorts. These resorts help you save money on extra fees for things like drinks and meals, along with other daily expenses.

Why Timeshares Might Not Be Right for You

Though many believe that a timeshare is a pathway to easy and cost-efficient vacations, these purchases tend to create more financial stress. Most prospective timeshare owners aren’t aware of the additional fees that increase each year and the multitude of challenges faced when trying to rid yourself of ownership.

Another downside of many timeshares is you may have to vacation in the spot each year unless you choose to pay more money to trade your timeshare for another location. Not only does this limit your travels, you will also have to be flexible in your scheduling as multiple people can share ownership.

The best way to avoid timeshare ownership is to avoid the pitch. Timeshare salespeople are trained to be persistent and not take “no” for an answer. Instead of attending a timeshare meeting, explore the new city!

Take the money you’d be putting into owning a timeshare and use it to save up for a vacation you can take at any place of your choosing instead.

Exit Your Timeshare

There’s nothing more frustrating than paying for something you don’t use or can no longer use. Countless timeshare owners report not having used their timeshare for years, commonly due to failing health or the inability to book a trip. But they’re still stuck paying the ever-rising maintenance fees. This is the opposite of what timeshare ownership was intended to be, in that this causes stress as opposed to the joy of vacationing.

Sadly, it’s not easy to get rid of a timeshare on your own because they do not hold value and because the resale market is flooded. Few timeshare owners factor in the cost of getting rid of their timeshares. But those who successfully get out of their contracts using a trusted exit company say it’s money well spent and it gives them control over vacation spending again.

When seeking out a timeshare exit company, search for one with a solid reputation because there are many scams artists out there seeking to prey on desperate timeshare owners. Look for a minimum five-year track record of success, and research the company’s credentials through resources such as the Better Business Bureau or the state’s attorney general. And download a free copy of the Consumer’s Guide to Timeshare Exit, which is a great resource to help you navigate through this process.

Remind Yourself That Vacation Is Possible Because of Your Hard Work

We work hard for our money, and we should be able to see the benefits of it. When you notice negative thoughts creeping into your mind surrounding your vacation time, remind yourself of this: It’s okay to spend the money that you worked hard to earn—you deserve time to relax!

Gordon Newton is president of Newton Group Transfers, a national timeshare exit company based in Arizona.

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